13 January 2011

For such a milestone age it was important for me to decide how and where to celebrate my 40th birthday. For many years my brother has graciously allowed me to have it at his place where we self-cater the food but this year I wanted to have a more relaxing time and make it less stressful for myself and those involved in helping. I scouted high and low for suitable venues and was really hoping for a place with a water view of some sort like the Deck Bar Lounge at Club Rose Bay, Fish Bar at Beach Palace Hotel or ECQ Bar at Quay Grand but in the end I decided on the Centennial Hotel after a casual drink visit back in November which didn't impose a minimum spend or charge for room hire. The final guest list of 96 adults and 5 kids were treated to welcome drinks of Redbank Emily NV sparkling which service staff topped up around the room plus fruit juice and soft drink was available from the bar all night. My traditional Hawaiian theme created a friendly atmosphere filled with colourful leis and shirts.

There was a big risk in ordering food from a place I'd never eaten at — especially for a food bloggers reputation — but I was thankfully very impressed with the canapés I ended up choosing for my guests. The kitchen accommodated my additional menu requests of Vietnamese Prawn Fresh Rolls which were filled with fresh ingredients, delicious Vegetarian Spring Rolls and decently sized Vegetarian Arancini Balls — I really loved the crispy spring rolls which all seemed to be kitchen made and full of flavour. Platters of Zucchini Fritters seemed to be a hit and the Cheese and Spinach Triangles had a nice flaky outer pastry and tasty filling inside which also seemed homemade as well. Decently sized Chicken Satay sticks were last to be served which were tender and moist although not quite as authentically charred and smokey in style which you'd love to find in a good Malaysian restaurant.

I always try and create a birthday cake which doesn't involve cutlery, plates and can simply be eaten with one hand. Cupcakes was the choice this year and I nearly decided to get the mini size from The Cupcake Factory at $1 each but instead bought 11 packs of mini cupcakes ($3.99 for 9) from Coles for less than half the price and presented them on white platters and arranged as the number 40 — a nice sugar hit of plenty of E numbers to end the formal proceedings of the night. I was very impressed with the professionalism and friendliness of the bar staff and how the platters of canapés were distributed around to the guests swiftly. Having my birthday at a catered venue certainly allowed me more time to mingle with my guests and enjoy the food and drinks at the same time — perhaps I should think about doing this next year.

A very cool canvas picture of myself was secretly organised so guests could write their birthday wishes and to help promote some of my Top 10 Food Highlights of 2010 I made everyone a handy little Happy Foodie New Year booklet. I received many generous presents and an amazing gift collection to go towards purchasing a brand new digital SLR camera which I've always dreamed about — I'm doing lots of research to decide what to get now. I'm truly honoured to know so many lovely friends and from the bottom of my heart I thank them so much for making my night very special and memorable.

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Simon Leong

Passionate Sydney food blogger in search of the best dishes around the world and writing reviews to whet your appetite. Feel free to email me your recommendations of where to eat simonleong[at]hotmail[dot]com